Much of the world faced online disarray Friday as a affected companies and services across industries 鈥� grounding flights, knocking banks and hospital systems offline and media outlets off air.
At the heart of the massive disruption is , a cybersecurity firm that worldwide. The company says the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows, noting that the issue behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.
CrowdStrike has said a fix is on the way. Still, hours after the problem was first detected.
Here鈥檚 what you need to know.
How did Friday鈥檚 鈥榖lue screen鈥� outage emerge?
Friday鈥檚 disruptions began when a faulty update was pushed out from CrowdStrike for one of its tools, 鈥淔alcon.鈥� In a statement about the ongoing situation, the company said the defect was found 鈥渋n a single content update for Windows hosts鈥� 鈥� noting that Mac and Linux systems were not impacted.
But, because scores of companies rely on CrowdStrike for their security needs with Windows as their operating system, the consequences of this kind of technical problem have been far-reaching. As a result, affected computer after computer showed the 鈥渂lue screen of death鈥� error message.
Long lines in the U.S., Europe and Asia as airlines lost access to check-in and booking services during peak summer travel 鈥� disrupting thousands of flights. Banks and New Zealand reported outages impacting payments. Some news stations, particularly in Australia, were unable to broadcast for hours. And had problems with their appointment systems, leading to delays and sometimes cancelations for critical care, while officials in some U.S. states in their areas.
Elsewhere, people experienced more minor inconveniences, including trouble ordering ahead at Starbucks, causing long lines at some of the coffee chain鈥檚 stores. Some billboards in New York City鈥檚 famous Times Square .
Experts stress that Friday鈥檚 disruptions underscore the vulnerability of worldwide dependence on software that comes from only a handful of providers.
鈥淚t is an 鈥榓ll our eggs are in one basket鈥� situation,鈥� Craig Shue, professor and computer science department head at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, said in emailed commentary. 鈥淭his lets us make sure our 鈥榖asket鈥� is high quality: the software provider tries to identify threats and respond to them quickly. But at the same time, if anything goes wrong and the basket fails, we have a lot of broken eggs.鈥�
What is CrowdStrike?
is a U.S. cybersecurity company that provides software to companies around the world and across industries. It bills itself as being the globe鈥檚 most advanced cloud-based security technology provider.
鈥淲e stop breaches,鈥� the cybersecurity company says on its website.
According to its website, CrowdStrike was founded in 2011 and launched in early 2012. It listed on the Nasdaq exchange five years ago. Last month, the Austin, Texas, company reported that its revenue rose 33% in the latest quarter from the same quarter a year earlier 鈥� logging a net profit of $42.8 million, up from $491,000 in the first quarter of last year. It reported having 29,000 subscribing customers.
CrowdStrike has a partnership with Amazon Web Services and its 鈥淔alcon for Defender鈥� security technology is designed to supplement Microsoft Defender to prevent attacks.
Is there a fix?
Disruptions on Friday continued hours after CrowdStrike first identified the issue. But both the company and Microsoft said that they鈥檙e .
In an emailed statement, CrowdStrike said that it was 鈥渁ctively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts鈥� 鈥� adding that a fix 鈥渉ad been deployed鈥� for the identified issue.
CrowdStrike President and CEO George Kurtz later apologized. 鈥淲e understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption,鈥� he wrote on .
Microsoft spokesperson Frank X. Shaw said that the company was 鈥渁ctively supporting customers to assist in their recovery.鈥� Both CrowdStrike and Microsoft are also appearing to engage IT personnel on official online channels, such as Reddit.
While the problem is fixable, it requires some expertise 鈥� and its impacts could last long past Friday, with Kurtz noting earlier that some customers may need a 鈥渕anual鈥� fix. Cybersecurity experts also warn of bad actors who may reach out claiming they can help. Smaller companies or organizations with less IT resources are particularly at risk.
Gartner analyst Eric Grenier noted that those affected should make sure they鈥檙e talking to trusted organizations as they work towards recovery. 鈥淎ttackers will definitely prey on organizations as a result of this,鈥� he said.
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